Well, this part of scripture — around our salvation — continues today, and the text flows from yesterday and the day before. As oart of that I am going to try to expand on the issue of grace and salvation, and how the theologians have differed.
The first common position is that of the Calvinist. That God rescues us. It is his mercy, his choice to save us from the mess we would get ourselves into. It is not our doing. The implication is that we do not have a choice. There is no free will.
The other position, which is sometimes named after a Dutch reformed theologica and forumlated in fige statements, is that there is a general grace given to all that a person can choose to accept or not accept. That one can choose to leave and become apostate. That a person has free will.
This second idea — as far as I can tell — is not just something John Wesley had, but is within the ideas of the Anglo-Catholics. It is a reason why the sacraments were made liberally available — while the Presbyterians were giving cards out to people who could approach communion the Anglicans were saying all can turn up, for all need to avail themselves of grace, adn God may call them higher.
Neither of these approaches have anything to do with us earning salvation, because we cannot do that. We would be — if true justice came — damned.
1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
OK, now what has this to do with Game. Well, as far as I can see, Game is an axknowledgement by men that we are likely to be attracted to certain things (being pretty, being young, being feminine) and womena re attracted to other things (high statuts, fitness, bigger size). Attached to this is the idea that the dating scene is a marktplace, and we all have a value. In more “repressed” times young women wre encouraged to find a young man of similar attractiveness and prospects and marry. Now, there is a market, and women compete with each other for “the best” ignoring the good.
Now, that’s pretty ugly. It damages people. It encourges women (and men) to “trade up”, regardless ot the pain they cause their spouse or their children. it is part of the spirit of the age, and this age, like all others, will end in destruction.
But we live in this age, and we need to know what we are up against. We need to understand that the other gender are not the same as ours — women are not men with different plumbing, and neither are men women with an “outie” rather than an “innie”. If we understand how we are made — and there is nothing wrong in being made like this — we can then make each other’s lives easier — in marriage by mutual teasing, wordplay and intimacy, and outside by mutual respect and non exploitation.
Or, we can choose not to be sluts and playas.
For salvation gote to those who Christ resuces from this mess by his great mercy.